During the Dutch Golden Age, Vanitas grew in popularity as a genre of Memento Mori That emphasized the transience of life. The lush paintings were steeped in symbolism and the uselessness of ambition and worldly pleasures were in the foreground.
Marc Dennis Brings from this 17th-century tradition while he paints the still life for a contemporary public. In a recent oil painting, ‘Happily ever after’, honey bees and hornets fall on a lush bouquet. Kaleidoscopic bubbles float over the five-foot canvas, reflects the surrounding colors and distorted bright viewers of nearby flowers and fruit.
The insects and shiny Orbs still add a low transience to the already volatile images, while they also reflect on the thin relationship between organic and human. Similar tensions appear in “Allegory of the readymade”, which stifles and curves a seemingly lively painting with thick layers of plastic film. Each of the works clings to a short moment, records both life on its prime and serve as a daring memory of the inevitable end.
Dennis’ paintings can be seen in I’m glad you’re here Until March 1 in Harper’s Gallery in New York. Find more of the artist on Instagram.
